The Long Walk might go down as a film in 2025 not enough people see. A simple story that makes you think and will actually shock you in moments.

The premise here is pretty simple. In a post war US that is decades into a seemingly severe depression there is a contest held by a military figure named ‘The General’ which sees a lottery happen. One boy from every state is chosen and tasked with the simple task of walking, without a break and maintaining a 3 mile per hour strode, until there is only one left. The winner will then get one wish of theirs granted.

The walk itself is staged as a patriotic thing and a cause for everyone to come together in even if by joining you are essentially signing a death wish. If you fail to maintain your speed or anything of the sort you aren’t just pulled off and jailed, you are shot in the head, brutally, right then and there.

What we get here is a powerful showing of kids who don’t entirely want to be there but sign up for various reasons and the friendships that occur during their death walk. 400+ miles with no breaks of any sort and these boys of different backgrounds share their stories and dreams with one another showing the true good humanity in them amid such a dark and horrible situation.

The film doesn’t shy away from the sheer brutality of the walk either. We see how the army without mercy executes these kids in front of each other. You see the struggle of them walking their feet sore, getting sick, and everything in between while they all struggle to make sure they don’t see another one of their colleges killed.

For a film that really takes place almost entirely on a road too it never feels static. Its shot beautifully and in a way that it always feels different and as if we are moving forward (while we technically always are). The acting here is terrific and will pull your heart strings towards the end.

Overall The Long Walk will leave you thinking and have a long standing impression on you. Its grim, dark, bleak, but with the slightest bit of hope sprinkled in. In a year where horror has had many shining moments The Long Walk is one of them.

Score :

4 / 5

After being a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos last film, also starring Emma Stone, Poor Things I went into Bugonia with some high expectations and was somewhat let down.

We follow two young men who are wrapped up in conspiracy theories that have led them to believe that the high ranking female CEO of a major company in their town is actually an alien in disguise. They somehow get away with kidnapping her and then hold her in their basement where they begin various methods on her of what they believe to be ways to get her to admit to being an alien so they negotiate their race leaving earth and humans alone.

The story itself is so far out there but shockingly predictable. Every major moment I saw coming from a mile away which almost left feeling like there was nothing truly coming. Granted one scene in particular even expecting it was still shocking, it didn’t resonate the same way as previous films of his.

What will be most divisive among viewers though is if you love or hate the ending, which I am in the latter of. There might not have been many other ways to tackle it but I just didn’t enjoy it none the less.

The real stand out here goes to Jesse Plemons who plays a country folk conspiracy nut down to a perfection. Fully engrossing his cousin, who is a bit on the slower side, played by Aidan Delbis into the mix its frightening because of his realistic he comes off and knowing that there are many people in the country similar to him at this exact moment. Emma Stone of course knocks it out of the park even if this is an easier role seemingly than her last Yorgos role in Poor Things.

Its an enjoyable watch led by some great performances that just gets bogged down because of the story and climax. It will end up being something you either truly loved or just feel a little let down by. Regardless its worth the view though.

Score :

3.5 / 5

One of my favorite film surprises this year might be Strange Harvest. Its possibly the most convincing horror mockumentary in recent memory.

We follow detectives are they are on the hunt for a serial killer named ‘Mr.Shiny’ who is on a growingly gruesome murder spree. As they follow his crimes though they soon sense that the symbols being left around may be something more occult oriented involved in the crimes.

What works best here though is the presentation. Its made exactly how you’d envision a Netflix documentary. Interviews with detectives and key members woven inbetween footage of kills done on handheld cameras and police body cams.

The film does enough to keep you going as well sprinkling in new facts that grow increasingly disturbing. Our killer, wearing an unusual mask, grows increasingly violent. What really works though for this style of film is that we aren’t given a happy ending. The case is left open with enough intrigue to warrant another film.

Overall in a genre filled with bad found footage type films Strange Harvest stands out enough on its own to make it an enjoyable watch.

Score :

4 / 5

Scott Adkins in a WW2 film where he fights in hand to hand combat a lot, honestly you had me at Scott Adkins in fight scenes. The man continues to be one of the most under appreciated action guys going even if he seems stuck in a world of endless straight to VOD films.

Here he plays British RAF Wing Commander James Wright who gets captured by the Japanese in World War 2 and stuck in a camp overlooked by a leader who forces the captives to fight against his men in hand to hand combat to survive. Little do they know though Wright is a martial arts master.

The plot here is paper thin and even that is pushing it. Our ‘villain’ here running fight camps is over the top enough but then to keep someone around who is repeatedly stepping up to him and taking down your own guys is enough. Add in that they seemingly have a load of prisoners here with not a large army and little to no structure to contain anyone, it just doesn’t make much sense.

What everyone watching this is for though is the action scenes. Its nothing amazing and not Adkins best by a long shot but its still enjoyable. He performs so well that he makes scenes look good with ease. By the end though it sort of falls apart though action wise with a big over the top moment though.

Overall its an easy watch. Adkins carries the film with his action scenes and just being a great on screen presence and its a laughably bad story that if anything is a hoot to pick apart as it goes.

Score :

2 / 5

A24 and Benny Safdie both have had some impressive runs lately so when word came out they’d be doing a biopic on the life of Mark Kerr an early Pride / UFC fighter, starring The Rock and Emily Blunt, many were intrigued. Upon a less than stellar release and reviews though it seemed to fade quickly and upon my watch I entirely see why.

Set between 1997 and 2000 we watch MMA fighter Mark Kerr, a then undefeated fighter, coming up at a time when Pride and UFC were slowly gaining traction. His rocky relationship with his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt), leading to his first defeat, and therefore downfall alongside his best friend / coach Mark Coleman shows us the ups and downs of Kerrs career.

While it sounds quite generic, thats because honestly it is. His story is never a particularly interesting one and seemingly one that you’d think would be extremely common. He has a drug issue, aggression issues, relationship issues, and things just generally don’t work out. While they never try to shine away from the faults in his story its just never really one I felt was an enjoyable watch.

Dwayne Johnson does give possibly his most diverse role yet. While he physically looks the part easily we haven’t seen him do such a dramatic role like this before. Emily Blunt and Ryan Bader are both great in their roles as Dawn and Coleman but both also come off as somewhat lifeless and undeveloped. At times towards the end it feels like we’ve even more off of this being a story about Kerr to where he is the side character to a story about Coleman.

As expected from Benny though the fights are what shines here. Shot beautifully with jazz music building up as the fight continues on is a true highlight of the film.

Sadly though nothing else really seems to work here. The film is fine but just entirely unremarkable. While being an early star in the sport attempting to make this a major film seems to have spread out his story just too thin showing how generic his out of the octogon story really was.

Score :

2 / 5

I’ll to this day never understand who thought this was a good idea. Part remake, part reimagining, and part 1 of 3, The Strangers Chapter one fails at all aspects.

Following a similar premise to the original 2008 classic we follow a couple who while traveling get stranded in a small town and spend the night in a cabin in the woods. From there we find masked people who stalk and attempt to kill them. Simple premise, should be easy right, but its not.

This movie does everything wrong that made the original so good. Gone is the suspense and tension and instead we get 40 minutes of almost nothing leading into boring jump scares. Our two characters here have zero common sense and make dumb decisions left and right.

Worst part is nothing really happens. Even when the action itself picks up it feels so empty. Like a prolonged remake that should have been a tv episode entirely done to sell the next two following sequels. Sequels which we will see them attempt to make a story out of this given the ending ruins another aspect of what made the original so good.

In the end this isn’t worth anyones time really. Will I watch the next two, of course. Do I think there is any chance they are even slightly solid, not in the slightest.

Score :

1 / 5